WILL IRAN SIGN A MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY WITH IRAQ?

There was a time, prior to the Gulf wars, when Iran and Iraq had balanced each other's power. No one then would have thought they would ever become allies. Now they are. The U.S. presence in various Gulf countries has all but united the two erstwhile enemies. The United States now stands at Iran's doorstep, and the Islamic Republic knows not to combat the one supreme power in the unipolar world. If war ever is imposed on the Islamic Republic, it'll conduct it unconventionally--at least where it can. The Islamic Republic after all had seen what happened to Iraq when it fought a conventional war with the United States.

The direct American involvement in the area--in the siege of Iraq, the alliance with the Kurds, the location of military bases in the Gulf countries--has brought Iran and Iraq closer. For now, however, mistrust on both sides has prevented an outright alliance. But the United States is pushing (unwisely in SPC's view) hard to throw the two countries into each other's arms.